The Grant Stone Brass Boot: A New Favorite in the Rotation

I’ve been wearing these pretty much every day. Rain, snow, work, travel, shopping, and some light hiking. They have performed well in all of these scenarios.

Break-in was pretty fast. The wedge soles made these instantly flexible and soft to walk in. My knobby heels were sore for a few days but that’s a me problem and not a boot problem. I’ve only conditioned these about 3.5 times. First with Bicks 4, but realized that it didn’t seem to penetrate the shell at all. So for my next conditioning at the half way point I used Saphir. I liked how Saphir performed but did notice wax build up in the valleys of the rolls that took a good week or two to wear off. I applied a tiny bit more Saphir before a trip to Taiwan-expecting to see daily rain. But in the end it was a rainless trip. My final conditioning was about 10 days before taking final submission photos. This time I used Venetian Shoe Cream. I think, (like pretty much everyone says) Venetian is the best for shell. It seemed to really bring out the depth of color and I observed very minimal wax build up in the valleys in the days after conditioning. I also like that it doesn’t contain mink oil like Saphir. I know there are two schools of thought on mink oil, but I think Venetian is a safer bet for routine conditioning needs. As for patina. They have darkened a lot over these 6 months. They are more of a caramel instead of honey. In some lighting they even look closer to garnet shell. The wedge sole has allowed for quicker roll formation as well. One of my thoughts when getting them resoled to wedge was that I hoped it would help them develop interesting roll formations. Super flexible sole + moc toe stitching = interesting tug of war between what the super flexible sole wanted to do and what the moc toe stitching would allow. In the end I’m not sure how much different they would have looked without the wedge soles but I have no regrets. These are my most comfortable boot in my rotation now. And it’s not even close

I couldn’t be happier with the fit. They have conformed to my feet perfectly. When I crank down the laces everything just locks into place. I’ve heard people say slipper-like when reviewing boots. I’m not sure these are slipper-like, but they’re the closest I’ve ever come to what I imagine a slipper-like fitting boot must feel like. I kind of forget I’m wearing them when I put them on. They feel good with any sock too. From thin to thick. They seem to adapt well to different thicknesses. My other boots definitely have sock preferences, but these feel good regardless.

Don’t have too much to say here. Everything has been pretty much perfect. I’m just now noticing some stitching (think ends of stitches) become more visible. Probably more so from all the brushing I’ve been giving them. No stitching has come loose or failed or anything just the ends which I just need to hit with a lighter at some point. Clicking seems perfect to me as well. I’m no expert, especially with shell. But the clicking seems spot on. I like the panel variations. Some lighter some darker. You can see right angle patterns in certain lighting conditions - showing how the shell was stacked on top of each other at Horween (I assume). Really cool.

Can’t comment on the lug rubber sole. Had them resolved to wedge before first wear. I can say that the Vibram Cristy sole is awesome. First wedge sole for me. Comfy, good traction and seem to be very hard-wearing as well. 6 months of almost daily wear and very little wear can be seen.

As noted previously. I love the Cristy wedge soles.

My third dome and the one where I really learned a lot more about photography. I was fortunate enough to move from studio apartment in the city to country house on the edge of the city. This allowed me a lot more freedom to experiment and improve my photography. Which was my main weakness in past domes. It was always challenging to find places to photograph boots without looking like a weirdo in a public place like a park or on the street. I guess I’m really supposed to talk about my final thoughts on THE BOOTS and Grant Stone in this section. So let me just say that I’ve always had great experiences with Grant Stone. I previously owned a pair of Maduro Shell Diesel boots. But I sold them without much wear out on them. These are my first Grant Stones that I REALLY wore and it has been a great experience. I’ll definitely be looking into more boots from Grant Stone in the future.